Virtuoso! - Rutland Sinfonia

The first concert in the Rutland Sinfonia’s 42nd season is a short piece by a composer new to the Orchestra. Lutoslawski’s ‘Little Suite’ is only 11 minutes long, but its rhythmic drive and strong folk-based thematic material will leave you wanting to hear more from Poland’s outstanding 20th century composer. We then welcome back Freya Goldmark to play Bruch’s popular Violin Concerto, dating from 1866.

The concert ends with Sibelius’s first symphony, completed in 1900. An 1897 performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 6 ‘Pathetique’ in Helsinki had an influence on Sibelius, but the mature Sibelius is already powerfully evident in this early work. "His symphony, a work full of unrestrained strength, full of passionate vivacity and astonishing audacity is – to state the matter plainly – a remarkable work, one that steps out on new paths, or rather rushes forward like an intoxicated god," wrote Ferdinand Pfol, the famous German music critic, on hearing it.